Gulf Coast Poems

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Pregnancy – three trimesters, a simple guide.

The magic of pregnancy is lost on half of the world’s population: the men. However, I’m not writing this piece today for the men – I’m writing it for the women! There is no way that men can ever truly understand pregnancy as they will never experience it firsthand. Even if they study a book and look at pregnancy week by week, it doesn’t compare to actually living the experience. Not even close.For example, men will never understand that every single day for the first trimester a woman is likely to be throwing up due to morning sickness. I’m sure they can’t even remember the last time they threw up, let alone think about doing it every single day for 90 days. It seems almost like torture – and sometimes it feels like that for us women as well.

Fortunately that doesn’t last forever, as the second trimester provides some relief in the pregnancy process. I like to refer to the second trimester as the “honeymoon period” because a lot of the bad symptoms of pregnancy tend to disappear during this time, and a lot of the good symptoms also peek their head out to say hello.One of these good features is that the baby begins to move around, or kick. This is one of the few times that a man can actually participate in the pregnancy by feeling his child kick in the woman’s belly. I have to say that when my husband first felt his child kick in my belly he told me that he finally understood just a little bit of what I was going through over the last three months. That meant a lot to me and to him as well. It brought us closer together as a couple and as a team working through the pregnancy.

Energy levels tend to rise during the second trimester as well, which is great both for you as a mother and for your family. The truth is, when mom is out of commission the family sometimes loses its way a little bit. Surprising how often we women are the thread that holds the family together, isn’t it? I like to think that without us making sure things actually happen then the house would be a mess and the children would be running around willy nilly all over the place with no manners at all. Feel free to disagree with me on that though!My husband once said to me that during the second trimester I was the easiest to get along with and also the most positive, though sometimes crazy, person he had ever been around. You definitely still get the hormonal swings during the 2nd trimester but you’re able to deal with it in a much more responsible way because you simply have a clearer mind. Something about not throwing up every single day and also seeing signs that your baby is alive and well just puts you in good spirits and gives you encouragement as you enter the final stage of pregnancy.